


Wild, Elemental, Free

by aykayem



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-28
Updated: 2013-11-28
Packaged: 2018-01-02 22:15:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1062251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aykayem/pseuds/aykayem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Simon loved to watch the way Isabelle moved - she was like wind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wild, Elemental, Free

Simon loved to watch Isabelle move. He'd always loved watching her move: she was so graceful, it was like she was made of water. Something that you could touch, but that would always drift away through your fingers no matter how much you tried to keep it. Or perhaps like wind, untouchable, your fingers merely passing through as it wound its way around you, ensnaring you and then fluttering away before you even realised what had happened.

But that wasn't really accurate anymore, he thought.

Now she was well within reach, able to be touched, able to be held without fear of her drifting away. Sometimes he had thoughts and feelings - _why's she still with me? What does she see in me?_ \- but they always passed when she turned to him and smiled, her face lighting up like she was glad to see him even though she knew that he was there.

He liked watching her most when she was trying to be domestic. When she was trying to cook, to clean, to make herself a pretty little housewife and failing miserably because that was the furthest thing from what she really was; when she finally abandoned the idea and practiced tai chi while she waited for her cookies to bake - _burn, more like_ \- when she thought no one was watching. Vampire silence had always done him well, though; he could sneak up on her. Sometimes he surprised her just by showing up, sometimes it was when he looped his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck, pretending to nibble there until she laughed, ticklish, and swatted him away.

They'd made something of a life together, for the fleeting bit of time that she would remain on the earth. Simon knew full well that one day, she'd go out and she wouldn't come back. One day, he would watch his lover die, and he would continue to wander the earth, immortal. He was starting to come around to it, though - he was starting to think that maybe Magnus was right, and you didn't have to only fall in love once, but maybe you could fall in love a thousand times, and it would never lessen the love you felt the first time. Or the second. Or the fourteenth. Isabelle would always remain in his heart, and the memories of her like this would remain in his mind; his memory would never go, would never be tainted by disease or mental illness, and he could go on loving the memory of her.

_But for now_ , he thought, _I'll just stand by._

And so he did, leaning against the open doorway of the kitchen in the apartment they shared, watching her in all her graceful efficiency, no single movement wasted as she cleaned up after her latest bout of cooking. Sometimes he thought that she must know his eyes were on her, otherwise she wouldn't have done everything as she had done it: she was dressed in nothing but short running shorts that bared most of her legs and a tank top, her scars and runes all visible, her hair drawn back into a ponytail that moved the way her whip did, snapping like an extension of her body and adding to that visual metaphor - she's like wind, like water, like fire, snapping and popping. And she was always concentrated, like everything she did was important.

His chuckle brought her eyes over to him, a surprised 'o' shaping her expression for a flicker of a moment, before she curved a smile at him and tipped her head to one side, pausing mid-gesture.

"Hey."

"You remember I don't eat, right?" Simon pointed out, already feeling bad for having to remind her. Her expression fell, like clockwork, but was replaced by amusement all the same. Into the freezer went the massive batch of falafel she'd made, and he briefly wondered what part of the recipe she'd somehow botched or 'added to' while he wasn't there; he'd find out eventually, when Alec and Magnus came by and tried one, inevitably gagging on some unexpected flavour. He almost felt bad for them, but it was sort of their own faults: they kept eating what she put out.

She was in his space almost the moment the freezer fell closed, arms draping lazily around his shoulders, her mouth just inches from his. "Maybe I can make blood-falafel next time," Isabelle suggested, looking pleasantly cheered by the idea. "I bet they have a recipe at Taki's or something."

"I'll pass," Simon laughed, and she rolled her eyes at him. His hands slid around her waist, fingers toying with the hem of that tank top, sliding beneath to feel the warmth of her skin against his perpetually cold hands. She tensed just a little at the chill, pressing a little closer to him like that might warm him up.

"You sure? I bet they'd be great."

"Nah, I'm definitely good."

"You are such a spoilsport."

"Maybe."

"Totally."

The sound of her laugh was music to his ears, and he returned her smile before leaning in to catch her mouth in a gentle, appreciative kiss. Almost more than he loved watching her, he loved this: he loved being able to reach out and touch her, this wild, elemental girl he thought was so far out of his league, he never had a chance.


End file.
